Recordings of geomagnetically induced currents and a nowcasting service of the Finnish natural gas pipeline system

[1] The geomagnetically induced currents (GIC) in the Finnish natural gas pipeline have been measured at one site in southern Finland since November 1998. We give an overview of this long and uniform time series covering one sunspot maximum. We also briefly discuss the conventional magnetic activity indices K and Ak, and, additionally, the range of the magnetic field and of its time derivative, as indicators of the GIC activity. The measured GIC data formed the basis of the development of a nowcasting service (GIC Now!), which was implemented within the European Space Agency Space Weather Applications Pilot Project. The service provides a near-real-time view of the geomagnetic activity level and nowcast estimates of GIC and pipe-to-soil voltages in the Finnish natural gas pipeline system. We describe the operation and validation of this service in this paper.

[1]  M. Engels,et al.  Crustal conductivity in Fennoscandia—a compilation of a database on crustal conductance in the Fennoscandian Shield , 2002 .

[2]  G. Rangarajan Indices of geomagnetic activity. , 1989 .

[3]  Antti Pulkkinen,et al.  Recordings and occurrence of geomagnetically induced currents in the Finnish natural gas pipeline network , 2001 .

[4]  L. Trichtchenko,et al.  Modeling geomagnetically induced currents using geomagnetic indices and data , 2004, IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science.

[5]  Kirsti Kauristie,et al.  Space weather risk , 2005 .

[6]  David Boteler,et al.  Modelling of space weather effects on pipelines , 2001 .

[7]  Peter Wintoft,et al.  Study of the solar wind coupling to the time difference horizontal geomagnetic field , 2005 .

[8]  John G. Kappenman,et al.  Storm sudden commencement events and the associated geomagnetically induced current risks to ground‐based systems at low‐latitude and midlatitude locations , 2003 .

[9]  John G. Kappenman,et al.  An overview of the impulsive geomagnetic field disturbances and power grid impacts associated with the violent Sun‐Earth connection events of 29–31 October 2003 and a comparative evaluation with other contemporary storms , 2005 .

[10]  L. Cagniard Basic theory of the magneto-telluric method of geophysical prospecting , 1953 .

[11]  A. Viljanen,et al.  Relation of geomagnetically induced currents and local geomagnetic variations , 1998 .

[12]  R. S. Weigel,et al.  Solar wind coupling to and predictability of ground magnetic fields and their time derivatives , 2003 .

[13]  R. Pirjola,et al.  Currents produced in the Finnish 400 kV power transmission grid and in the Finnish natural gas pipeline by geomagnetically-induced electric fields , 1985 .

[14]  P. Hejda,et al.  Geomagnetically induced pipe-to-soil voltages in the Czech oil pipelines during October-November 2003 , 2005 .

[15]  L. Bolduc GIC observations and studies in the Hydro-Quebec power system , 2002 .

[16]  Sture Lindahl,et al.  Geomagnetic storm of 29–31 October 2003: Geomagnetically induced currents and their relation to problems in the Swedish high‐voltage power transmission system , 2005 .

[17]  H. Gleisner,et al.  Response of the auroral electrojets to the solar wind modeled with neural networks , 1997 .

[18]  Wallace H. Campbell,et al.  Observation of electric currents in the Alaska oil pipeline resulting from auroral electrojet current sources , 1980 .

[19]  J. Wait On the relation between telluric currents and the Earth's magnetic field , 1954 .

[20]  D. Boteler Geomagnetic Effects on the Pipe-To-Soil Potentials of A Continental Pipeline , 2000 .

[21]  Antti Pulkkinen,et al.  Time derivative of the horizontal geomagnetic field as an activity indicator , 2001 .

[22]  Antti Pulkkinen,et al.  Fast computation of the geoelectric field using the method of elementary current systems and planar Earth models , 2004 .

[23]  Antti Pulkkinen,et al.  Relation between substorm characteristics and rapid temporal variations of the ground magnetic field , 2006 .

[24]  P Eng,et al.  GIC effects on pipeline corrosion and corrosion control systems , 2002 .

[25]  S. Simpson Does the Electrical Power Industry Need Better Storm Warnings , 2004 .

[26]  Antti Pulkkinen,et al.  Estimation of geomagnetically induced current levels from different input data , 2006 .

[27]  Cary Oler Imperfect K Index Satisfactory For Electric Power Industry , 2004 .